The water flew, the singing stopped, the men shrieked, and there was a wild scramble to get away.
“It’s a cloudburst!” yelled somebody.
“Help! help! Fire!” cried another.
“Oh, goodness!” gasped another. “That stuff struck me in the mouth just as I was singing. I’ve swallowed more than a gallon of real water. It’ll be fatal!”
They made a wild scramble to get out of the shed. Some of them got up and ran; others crawled as fast as they could on their hands and knees. And all the while Ready continued to serenely play the hose upon them.
Not one stopped to investigate, for that water was “cold and wet.” It was too much for their nerves. In a very few minutes Ready had cleared the shed. As the last of them went out, he dropped the hose and ran after them, wringing his hands and pretending that he had been driven out with the others.
He left Bingham in the shed roaring with laughter.
“Oh, my, my!” gurgled Jack, as he came tearing out into the midst of the water-dripping crowd, “and I was having such a lovely dream! What happened, anyhow?”
“The waterworks exploded!” declared one drenched fellow, wringing water out of his coat and wiping it out of his eyes.
“Wasn’t it awful!” gasped Ready.